A drug-dealing gang have been jailed for a total of 35 years after flooding a town with heroin and crack cocaine.

The group of five men and three women – known as the ‘John & Redge’ gang – brought in drugs from Liverpool to be sold on the streets of Congleton.

They would frequently swap vehicles, addresses, phones and their roles in the conspiracy to try and keep the Cheshire Police guessing.

But their plot was busted through an investigation code-named Operation Tyke.

Craig Eagles

Detectives probing the supply of Class A drugs in the town uncovered a network led by 25-year-old Craig Eagles.

With his assistant Connor McLellan, the pair worked with Lynda Cartwright, Jade Holmes and Phil Dukes to keep the supply chain going in Congleton.

The gang was said to have operated along the County Lines model - an increasingly common tactic that sees gangs plant their own drug dealers in target towns rather than simply supplying their substances to local criminal operations.

Connor McLellan

Eagles, of Swallowhurst Crescent, Norris Green, was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for nine years and six months, while McLellan, aged 21, was handed seven years and six months.

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Cartwright, aged 54, of Daresbury Close, Kirkby, was locked up for six years and six months after the court heard she transported the gang to and from Congleton and would frequently change vehicles to try and keep officers off their trail.

Jade Holmes

Holmes, aged 22, of Old Barn Road, Anfield, for five years and Dukes, aged 29, of Matthew Street, Swansea, for four years.

Adrian Bryan, aged 38, of St Johns Road, Biddulph, was jailed for one year for street dealing in Congleton, while Jessica Cole, aged 23, of Stanley Park, Litherland, was given a two-year jail term, suspended for two years, for transporting members of the gang to Congleton.

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And a 17-year-old boy, from Liverpool, was given a 12-month sentence in a youth offenders’ institute, for physically controlling the drugs in various address in Congleton which were then given to street dealers to sell.

Lynda Cartwright

The sentences come after more than 60 police officers raided two addresses in Congleton and five in Merseyside in a major operation earlier this year.